Thread: Say NO to Genetically modified (GM) CROPS and FOODS

Genetically modified (GM) crops and food are being grown and consumed by the public, even though:

There is little scientific study about their health risks

Safety test technology is inadequate to assess potential harm

They can carry unpredictable toxins

They may increase the risk of allergenic reactions

GM in Indian foods: Greenpeace flags the good and the bad

Eleven major food companies in India have been slotted in a ‘red list’, compiled by Greenpeace India, in the country’s first safe food guide on Genetically Modified ingredients.

The companies are: Nestlé, Hindustan Unilever, Kellogg, Cadbury, Agro Tech Foods Ltd., FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd. (a unit of Bharti Enterprises), Bambino Agro Industries Ltd., Britannia Industries Ltd., Godrej Hershey Foods, Parle, and Safal.

The ‘red list’ is a compilation of food companies that told Greenpeace India they would use GM ingredients, companies that evaded the issue in correspondence with Greenpeace, and companies that said nothing despite repeated Greenpeace correspondence over 45 days.

A corresponding ‘green list’ is also in the ‘Greenpeace Safe Food Guide – A Consumer’s Guide to GM-Free Food’. In the ‘green list’ are companies who told Greenpeace they do not use GM ingredients.

The good boys of the Indian food processing industry so far are: MTR, Dabur, Haldiram’s, ITC Foods, PepsiCo India, and Ruchi Soya.

Greenpeace India is empowering consumers with this guide because they have a right to know whether their food is GM-free. Consumers also demand GM-free food as they have done in the European Union, Brazil, and China.

The companies in the ‘red list’ manufacture a host of foods that cover virtually every household in India, at least in the non-rural sector.

This is a quick list of the companies and some of their products in the ‘red list’. Basically, the bad boys.

Agro Tech Foods Ltd: Sundrop Sunflower oil, Crystal, Rath Vanaspati, Act II popcorn.

Bambino Agro Industries Ltd: Vermicelli, soups, instant mixes, Bambino pasta, sweets.

FieldFresh Foods Pvt Ltd (a Bharti unit): vegetables, fruits, pre-cuts, noodle mix, pizza mix, sambhar mix.

Britannia Industries Ltd: Tiger, Milkman, Good Day (all biscuits), Daily Fresh breads and rusks, cookies, cakes, butter, yoghurt.

Cadbury: Dairy Milk, Five Star, Perk, Éclairs, Gems, Bournville, Celebrations.

Godrej Hershey Foods: Nutrine, Xs, Jumpin, Sofit (soy milk), oil, tea, vanaspati, tomato puree.

Kellogg: Corn flakes.

Hindustan Unilever: Brooke Bond, Lipton, Brooke Bond Bru, Kissan, Annapurna, Knorr, Kwality Walls.

Nestlé: Everyday Whitener, Slim Milk, yoghurt, Milo, Nestea, Maggi noodles, Maggi sauces, Kit Kat, Bar-One, Polo, and Cerelac, Nestum, Lactogen (all baby foods).

Safal: fruits, vegetables, pickles, jams, squashes, fruit drinks, IQF vegetables.

This is almost the entire grocery list of most urban families. Chocolate products are another shock in the ‘red’ category, as are the Maggi range.

Most of these products are marketed heavily on television, sending messages that they help create healthy individuals. Greenpeace India is saying this may not be so.

Greenpeace India demands that food businesses adopt a no-GM policy because of the risks to health and environment, and that they take proactive steps to inform consumers of the presence or absence of GM products in their products.

The safety of GM crops as a foodstuff for animals and humans is unknown, and the testing regimes are inadequate. Studies on laboratory animals (rats) have pointed out potential health risks including allergies, abnormal growth of organs such as liver and kidney, and many unpredictable effects.

Some of the ‘green list’ products are:

PepsiCo India: Uncle Chips, Cheetos, Lays, Kurkure, Quaker, Tropicana, Gatorade, Slice, Dukes, Mangola.

ITC Foods: Kitchens of India, curry pastes, strawberry and mint jam, Aaashirvaad Atta (wheat flour), Sunfeast biscuits and cookies, Bingo, Candyman, Mint-o.

MTR: soups, ready to eat, rice meals, frozen foods, instant sweet mixes, spice powders, pickles, jams, papads, ice creams, instant snack mixes.

Ruchi Soya: Mahakosh oil, Ruchi Gold, Nutrela rice bran oil, vanaspati, Nutrela N’rich, soy foods, bakery fats.

Dabur: Dabur Chyawanprash, Hajmola, Pudin Hara, soups, coconut milk, tomato puree, Real, Activ, Lemoneez, Glucose-D, Dabur Honey.

Haldiram’s: Mopleez Aloo Bhujia, namkeens, gulab jamun, soan papdi, other sweets, snacks.

DOWNLOAD: SAFE FOOD GUIDE

Nestlé’s double standards. Enough to make you sick!

Nestlé sells safe food in the rest of the world but thinks it’s okay to push genetically-contaminated products down Indian throats. India’s leading culinary and spiritual chefs have already spoken against GE-tainted food. If Nestlé’s double standards make you sick too... Just sign the mail and clean up Nestlé's act in India.

Tell Nestle to go GE free


SOURCE: GREENPEACE INDIA

Good info. But try to present yours viewpoint also.

Thanks for sharing this information. I have always been anti GM food and whenever I can I would buy organic food but it is still tooooo costly here in Delhi but there are a lot more farms coming up near Delhi that grow organic crops and also organic milk and things are improving slowley

Now GM food... as if all that adultrated food and milk and stuff wasent enough

Pepsico India uses GM raw materials too. So how come its on the green list.

I don't think anyone will be following that list. Who is going to stop eating chocolates , cornflakes & Goodday?

Thanks to Admin, Luke Skywalker

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

But try to present yours viewpoint also.

My viewpoint is clear say NO to GM FOODS.

Now its your turn mate to go through it and avoid as much as possible though its difficult as most of the items listed have become must have. It will take time to change our habits or we will have to change these companies to come clean.

All the China is eating these vegitables...

for so many guys, you have to buy this/crop this...

Britannia joined Ruchi Soya and MTR in declaring its food totally free of genetic contamination, now and in the future!

Nestle too wrote to Greenpeace clarifying their position on genetically-contaminated food. Shockingly, while over 25,000 of their own customers are asking the company to go GE-free (hundreds of them even sending Nestle products back to the company), all that Nestle has to say is that consumer preference will decide whether or not Nestle sells GE food in India.

Essentially, this is what Nestle is saying: they don't sell GE food in Russia, Brazil or the EU because consumers there are against it. But if Indian consumers want GE food, Nestle has no problem selling it to them.

We think this is some sick kind of joke. Nestle is suggesting that unlike its customers in other countries, Indian consumers might actually want unsafe and untested food.

Have a look at Nestle Response






Click here to tell Nestle what Indian consumers really want.


SOURCE: GREENPEACE INDIA

Say no to GM foods.

Good info Deep. Rep +

Nice information.
I always hated GM food but didn't know where to start.Now I do.
I am with you on this deepmohan
And Rep+

thanks to all of you for you support for a good concern.

@meetdilip & speedy

Thanks for Rep tooo.

What exactly is your objection to GM food???

Norman Borlang one of the greatest hunger fighter ever had said some people had lost their sense thats the objection.

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

Norman Borlang one of the greatest hunger fighter ever had said some people had lost their sense thats the objection.

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

I didn't ask what Norman Borlaug's objection was, I was asking what your
objection was????

-F

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

I have written my point in favour of it.

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

Good info. But try to present yours viewpoint also.

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

I don't think anyone will be following that list. Who is going to stop eating chocolates , cornflakes & Goodday?

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

Norman Borlang one of the greatest hunger fighter ever had said some people had lost their sense thats the objection.

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

I have written my point in favour of it.

These are your posts in this thread. Which one has explicitly stated
your objection?

-F

I have written that I don't have any objection read clearly here:

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

I am in favour of gm food.
People objecting are losing common sense.

My objection to GM food is that some countries with better technology, equipment and ample amount of land with less man power can actually produce GM food at a fraction of the cost what we incur here in producing our crops using all that man power and when these products start coming into India what would be the fate of the India farmer? with that the majority of India will slip into an irreversible circle of poverty which would be impossible to come out of for years to come.

The other very important reason I oppose GM food is that the long term effects are yet to be proven and we can actually do without GM food if we invested in increasing production.

Buy vegetables in USA and buy the same vegetable in India and see the difference for yourself... GM onion tastes to bland and check out the once we get in India and you would get a full flavor out of it and same is true about other vegetables as well.

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

Though there might be some research but not all gm foods are bad. & if human have to remain hunger free we have to use biotechnology.

So many people are suffering due to food shortage what the hell should we do?

There is more than enough food in the world and the hunger crisis is caused by problems in food distribution and politics, not production, so people should not be offered food that may carry any degree of risk.

In India itself tons of food grains are wasted just because of improper storage facilities.

please refer these links...

Pawar admits foodgrains rotting in FCI godowns

India food grain waste revealed -- BBC

India starving on a mountain of grains

10 lakh tonnes of food grains damaged in FCI godowns -- TFE

GE/GM Seeds are the biggest threat to Indian farmers. We get rains only for 3 months a year and that too not widespread across the nation. Our soil is dry and hence does not get naturally enriched (with nitrogen) by decaying organic waste. Bacteria thrive on heat, moisture and water. We just have one of these in 70% of India.

GE seeds grow at a rapid rate producing huge produce in the first year. But in doing that it completely drains the soil of its nutrients. So the next year, the poor farmers of India have to buy expensive fertilizers which again are chemicals. Excessive use of industrial fertilizers is also not good for the soil.

Another point. Indian farmers are used to regrow stuff from a batch of seeds from the previous crop. GM foods is basically infertile. So the next year, the farmer has to purchase new seed.

Read more about Vandana Shiva and her rallies against GM food. You may not agree 100% with her but she has a lot of plus'es.

Rep+ for deepmohan.

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

I am in favour of gm food.
People objecting are losing common sense.

Bt Brinjal is to be commercialized in 2010 by government.

Bt Brinjal Unfit for Human Consumption

Release of Bt brinjal into the environment for food, feed and cultivation may present a serious risk for human and animal health; the GM aubergine is unfit for consumption. That's the verdict of French scientist Professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the Committee for Independent Research and Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN), who carried out the first ever independent assessment of Monsanto-Mahyco's (Maharashtra Hybrids Seeds Co Ltd -- Monsanto Biotech Ltd) dossier on toxicity tests submitted to the Indian regulatory authorities.

Professor Seralini, commissioned by Greenpeace India to undertake the assessment, said his key findings were statistically significant differences between groups of animals fed GM and non-GM brinjal in the raw data, which were discounted rather than used to raise food safety concerns and to call for further investigation. Although the differences were not reported in the dossier summaries, they remained visible in the raw experimental data. These differences, seen by Monsanto-Mahyco, were deemed biologically irrelevant, and disregarded on the grounds that they were within a wide ‘reference' group of brinjal types.

On health effects, Seralini found that:

• Bt brinjal produces a protein in the vegetable cells that induce antibiotic resistance. This is recognised as a major health problem and is inappropriate for commercialised use. It may also indicate that old GM technology is being used as the technology has already moved on from antibiotic resistance marker genes.

• Bt brinjal appears to have 15 percent less calories and different alkaloid content compared to non-GM brinjal. It contains 16-17 mg/kg Bt insecticide toxin. When fed to animals, effects were observed on blood chemistry with significant differences according to the sex of the animal or period of measurement. Other effects were on blood clotting time (prothrombin), total bilirubin (liver health), and alkaline phosphate in goats and rabbits.

• Changes in lactating cows were observed in increased weight gain, intake of more dry roughage matter and milk production up by 10-14 percent as if they were treated by a hormone.

• Rats fed Bt brinjal had diarrhoea, increased water consumption; decrease in liver weight, and liver to body weight.

• Feed intake was modified in broiler chickens.

According to Seralini, “This makes for a very coherent picture of Bt brinjal that is potentially unsafe for human consumption. The GM brinjal cannot be considered as safe as its non GM counterpart.” In addition, he says that the longest toxicity test were only for 90 days, which does not assess long-term effects such as the development of cancers or tumours. Furthermore, he considers it potentially unsafe to eat animals with the health problems that had been fed Bt brinjal.

India has always been the richest and largest economy in the world untill 200 years ago and this is true as far as you can see in history... India has always been the richest nation.

So what happened to India 200 years ago? well the manufacturing in India suddenly became costlier then western countries due to them using machines with steam engines... The British had control over everything back then and they killed our industry thats what made ENGLAND rich... its our sweat and blood and their evil designs.

So whats up now? well India is developing with every tick of the clock just because we produce cheaper now as compared to the western countries be it products or services or even tourism for example is cheaper in India... then how is this GM thing going to make any difference?

Indian economy revolves around farming even today and thats what is keeping our economy afloat in times of recession all over the world.. We do not allow GM food imports and that directly benefits Indian farmers and keep the rural economy ticking but once this flood of GM food is allowed into India the cost of production will not go down due to the fact that farmers here own very very small chunks of land and their cost of production remains high as compared to say for example the likes of Germany, USA, Australia and even Japan although that's a very small country... Take the example of Egypt. Imports would become so much cheaper with this and would kill the domestic farmer... Exactly the same thing happened in India 200 years ago when Indian textiles were world famous but all hand made... then came the English mill which made clothes production so much cheaper that people stopped buying Indian textile products... exports died away and so on... it is just an example.

Its time to bring the lost riches and glory back to India.... say no to GM food.

@ deepmohan
Thanks for starting this thread! reps added

For Ages India had been DUPED by other countries and will be until people over here realize it.

@ just4kix & Admin

Thanks for the Rep+

People are confusing here. i will post clarification later on.

@Deep mohan I was the first one to give you rep for this thread even though I don't agree with you. i just don't write rep+ some time. For i believe:

I disagree with you but until death I will defend your right to disagree with me

Originally Posted by Luke Skywalker

People are confusing here. i will post clarification later on.

Whats confusing over here

@Deep mohan I was the first one to give you rep for this thread even though I don't agree with you. i just don't write rep+ some time. For i believe:

did you meant that i didnt acknowledge your rep+.

Really sorry

thanks for the Rep+